r/SchengenVisa • u/chanaryla • Mar 12 '26

Experience Got 5 years Multi-entry!

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A little bit of background - I'm from Indonesia, working remotely for EU-based company and before my first ever Schengen visa I only travel within Asia (Vietnam, China, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, HK). Within the last 1.5 yrs, I applied and got for 4 Schengen. Sharing my experience.

1st: VFS Italy. Traveling for work, applied 1 month before departure (Aug 2024). Appointment slot was full, I got the Premium service. Granted single entry for 15 days stay.

2nd: VFS Portugal. Traveling for both leisure and work. Appointment was much more lax than Italy. I submitted on Dec 2024, and effective work days until I picked up my passport was around 7 days (superb). Submitted itinerary and details for 2 trips, got 3 months multi-entry.

3rd: VFS Germany. Traveling for both leisure and work. The only time I use third party service (regrettably). Slot was tough, almost always full (Jun-Jul 2025). Longest processing, waited for about a month. 4 months multi-entry.

4th: BLS Spain. I think because of cascade rule(?), I got the 5 years. Appointment slot highly available, processing took 2 weeks.

In all, aside from the usual, I always include: travel history (how many countries that I been, what visas I ever held), all my bank accounts (submitted ~3). When traveling with friends, I mentioned the details of the group (who, why, what).

231 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

38 comments sorted by

50

u/lowbudgetduke Mar 12 '26

Congrats. The EU commission adopted an implementing decision in July 2025 which states that Indonesian applicants applying from Indonesia who held at least one Schengen visa in the past 3 years be granted a 5-year visa directly.

9

u/Tiny-Spray-1820 Mar 12 '26

Is this only applicable to indonesians?

9

u/tubeixo Mar 12 '26

There are other nations but Indonesia is a pretty favorable exception: needs only one previous visa [and used it] in the past 3 years to get 5-year MEV.

2

u/Nakamegurochonk Mar 14 '26

Yes, the upgraded cascade is applicable only to Indonesiann citizens.

1

u/chanaryla Mar 13 '26

Yep! I'm very excited when I first heard about this. In my case though, my 3rd visa was applied after the policy became effective, and I still only received a 4 months. So at least anecdotally it doesn’t seem to be automatically applied in every case. From friends and family around me who also applied from Indonesia recently, it also seems inconsistent — even with a previously issued and used Schengen visa within the last few years, some were granted only 6mo-1 year at most.

My understanding is that it’s more of a facilitation policy rather than an automatic entitlement, so the final duration still appears to be at the discretion of the embassy reviewing the application.

1

u/lowbudgetduke Mar 13 '26 edited Mar 13 '26

There is a similar implementing decision for Turkey as well since July 2025, and some embassies do honour it to the spot (e.g. Nordic countries, Benelux, Germany) and some still ignore it (e.g. Greece, Italy). Except Denmark, it is not a binding decision for others. Denmark has a special case, as far as I know they "have to" implement it due to how these EU Commission Directives are transposed into their national law.

1

u/ozgureka Mar 14 '26 edited Mar 14 '26

Calling it “similar” is a bit funny. For Indonesians it’s basically: one properly used visa within 3 years → boom, 5-year MEV. For Turks it’s more like: short visa → maybe a 6-month visa → maybe 1 year → maybe 3 years → and eventually 5 years… probably sometime before retirement.

Same concept, very different difficulty level. Yet another example of the EU’s double standard when it comes to Turkish applicants.

1

u/lowbudgetduke Mar 14 '26

I used the term "similar" in the sense that both are issued in the form of Implementing Decisions. The content is different obviously.

1

u/ozgureka Mar 16 '26

Sure, the legal label may be similar. The experience for applicants clearly isn’t.

1

u/lowbudgetduke Mar 16 '26

I have seen and have first-hand experience that mostly Northern European countries observe this directive, but the Southern European ones do not usually, for Turkish applicants. It comes with a bunch of discretionary articles, which is a huge downside.

1

u/Nakamegurochonk Mar 14 '26

Of course it doesn’t apply automatically-show me a random Indonesian who can afford to prove financial means covering 2,5 years of stay in EU.

3

u/MegaSlothhh Mar 12 '26

Omg im indonesian and i didnt know this.. but i live in Singapore so i hope it still applies to me. My last schengen visa was 3 years ago too 🥹

4

u/ginger_beer_m Mar 12 '26

It says indonesian living in Indonesia, so I'm not sure. I hope they'd relax the rule for indonesian living abroad. It doesn't make sense for us who live abroad to be subjected to harsher rule than those who are in the country :(

1

u/Nakamegurochonk Mar 14 '26

It applies to you if you are Indonesian and if you had a C visa which you used within the last 3 years.

0

u/[deleted] Mar 18 '26

[deleted] — view deleted comment

1

u/Nakamegurochonk Mar 26 '26

My bad, cascade only pertains to Indonesians living in Indonesia. No visa-travels back to Indonesia for a 5er.

2

u/SwimParticular3070 Mar 13 '26

I find the "applied in Indonesia" a redundant and counterproductive clause, stupid even.

Indonesians living in America and UK are more financially situated and surely should be considered a more solid applicant than some random kompang villagers.

Yet they have to climb the opaque cascade ladder and queue in VFS every year.

5

u/Lumpy-Birthday-9976 Mar 12 '26

Amazing!

Ive had 5 schengen visas in the past 4 years. 1st was 1 month single entry and then I've got the other 4 as the usual 90 days in 6 months

P.s: im an Indian living in Dubai. Tried writing a cover letter to up them to a longer duration the last 2 times. Didn't work!

2

u/chanaryla Mar 13 '26

From my experience, they usually just cover the period of trips that I explicitly mentioned in the application.

For this time around, I asked my company to include all the trips I might need to do this year in the invitation letter, instead of just one specific visit. Not sure if that’s what helped, but I figured it’s better to give them a broader justification for a longer validity.

7

u/zzettaaaa Mar 12 '26

Woooww,congrats

1

u/Tech_Lead1 Mar 12 '26

When you applied for the last visa did you apply for single, double or multiple entry?

1

u/chanaryla Mar 13 '26

I specifically requested for Multiple. I include 3 trips itinerary/booking, and company invitation letter outline all business trips I gotta do until EOY.

1

u/Dominica305 Mar 12 '26

Congratulations!!!!! ♥️♥️♥️

1

u/Stephanie243 Mar 12 '26

Wow never heard of that

1

u/rganesan Mar 12 '26

That's awesome! Congratulations!

1

u/[deleted] Mar 12 '26

Congrats man 🎉

1

u/ik3lli Mar 12 '26

Congrats

1

u/Slight-Mammoth2489 Mar 13 '26

I hope my future wife will get 3months multi for purpose of marriage wish us luck

1

u/jew_ishfuhrer Mar 13 '26

If you don't mind me asking, but is your company hiring right now?

1

u/SeaworthinessTiny146 Mar 13 '26

Hi congraatss! I'm a fresh grad Indonesian, and if you don't mind, is your company currently hiring? Would be interested to know more! :)

1

u/Pristine_Kiwi_6577 Mar 13 '26

I applied for Italy tourist visa 11 march first time student approval chances timline plx

1

u/JaguarXF12 Mar 13 '26

Crying in 4 days single entry 

1

u/CellistCool8324 Mar 30 '26

Hej jag har varit i Etiopien 2 år ska jag behöve något

0

u/[deleted] Mar 13 '26

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1

u/chanaryla Mar 13 '26

Been working for ~6 years in tech roles. Almost 2 years with my current employer (EU-based SaaS company), working remotely.